Best and safest way to auto shutdown at time xx:xx

[jackhammerbob]

What is the best way to automate a computer shutdown at let's say 5AM in the morning. A way in which it ensures the computer shuts down and is not stopped by a "You didn't save, are you sure you want to exit" message box?

 

[bofhrevenge2]

We use PsShutdown to turn off our PC's each night, it supports a range of switches including one to force shutdown.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/psshutdown.shtml

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[Tightpants]

We use a scheduled task to shutdown PCs left on overnight.

Create a script called c:\shutdown.bat containing the command c:\windows\system32\shutdown.exe /s /f

Schedule the task to run at 5.00am every day. Run the task as administrator. Only start the task if the computer has been idle for 60 minutes.

I haven't tried PSShutdown but it sounds as though it does a similar thing.

 

[bofhrevenge2]

PSShutdown is very similar to shutdown.exe it's just a bit more flexible with more switches. Also it doesn't need to be on the station so you can execute a .bat file on a server that will shutdown multiple PC's at the same time.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud

 

[jackhammerbob]

Thanks for the quick inputs.

 

[Tightpants]

PsShutdown does appear to be more simple to administer.

Does PsShutdown turn off machines that are still being used? For example if I scheduled a batch file to run on the server every evening at 8.00pm to shutdown multiple computers would it still shutdown machines being used by people working late? They might not notice any warning of an imminent shutdown.

 

[bofhrevenge2]

You can set it to show a popup message telling the user of the impending shutdown, they can then abort the shutdown. I don't tend to use it on office PC's but it comes in handy for shutting down classroom PC's. I think you can set it so it won't shutdown if someone is logged on.

"Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar." - Sigmund Freud